1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of subscription television equipment and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for use in subscription television systems whereby a subscriber to subscription television services may periodically receive service with minimal supervision and control by the service provider. For example, one periodic subscription television service offering according to the principles of the present invention may be a weekend service whereby the subscriber is automatically connected from 6 PM on a Friday evening through 12 PM midnight on a Sunday night to receive a predetermined plurality of channels allocated to the periodic (weekend) service offering.
2. Description of Relevant Background Information
A problem has recently surfaced primarily in the cable television field in high density population areas. There may be a considerable so-called embedded base in terms of the costs of establishing a distribution cable network connecting subscribers with a central service control point, hereinafter, a headend. Furthermore, besides establishing a cable television signal distribution system, multiple dwelling units and other homes may be pre-wired for so-called drop wires from the distribution cable system into the subscribers' homes. Furthermore, within the homes, there may be equipment which is owned by the cable television service provider such as terminal equipment. Such terminal equipment may represent a considerable investment in a given subscriber.
With this large embedded base, there is a requirement to maximize its utilization by potential subscribers while minimizing the costs associated with providing various services. Many would-be subscribers, however, are unable to afford the costs of subscribing on a regular or continuous basis to services. Such customers, however, in accordance with the principles of the present invention, may be able to afford periodic subscription services, provided, of course, that such services are reasonably priced.
An associated problem to reducing the costs of services is that of alleviating the need for cable television service personnel to visit a subscriber's premises in order to install service. One solution to the problem of alleviating the need for service visits for service installations is for a system operator to utilize so-called addressable interdiction or related service denial technologies for provision of services in place of so-called scrambling/descrambling technologies which require that equipment be provided on the subscribers' premises. The service denial equipment may be located external to the premises, for example, in the instance of a multiple dwelling unit, in a locked equipment closet. Service is then addressably authorized or deauthorized by selectively actuating the program denial equipment via a series of transactions from the headend to the multiple dwelling unit.
Interdiction equipment, for example, as described in co-pending commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 07/625,901, filed Nov. 27, 1990, entitled "CATV Pay-Per View Interdiction System," now U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,420, is adapted to transmit all television channels from a central signal source or headend in the clear over the cable distribution plant to the service denial apparatus. Jamming signal oscillators and a subscriber disconnect switch are associated with the service denial apparatus for jamming any selected channels of these delivered television channels which the subscriber is not authorized to receive. For a regular service customer, typically their subscriber disconnect switch is in a closed or connect condition (except, for example, when the system operator opens the switch and terminates or disconnects the subscriber's service for lack of payment). When connected, the subscriber receives signal for all channels, but those channels the subscriber is not authorized to receive are jammed with interfering signals generated locally at the service denial apparatus by the oscillators. With the subscriber disconnect switch in the open or disconnect position, the subscriber receives no signal at all from the service provider.
Them is no or only a limited requirement for terminal equipment on the subscribers' premises because most television receivers today are so-called cable ready in that they are provided with means for tuning to and receiving a broadband cable television channel. A cable ready television receiver, for example, may be tuned to receive hundreds of channels for television stations ranging from public interest stations and off-the-air broadcast stations to stations dedicated to premium cost programming.
The problem with utilizing known systems for providing periodic services to a subscriber who desires them is that the same number and complexity of transactions would be required for a so-called periodic service subscriber as are required for a full time or regular service subscriber. Consequently, periodic services cannot be provided economically in known systems because of the high costs of periodically authorizing and deauthorizing service to a given subscriber.
On the other hand, the market in a large metropolitan area among new potential subscribers, who could not otherwise afford regular service, for a basic periodic service offering, for example, weekend access to a limited number of channels, may be great. Thus, while a new previously untapped market for an inexpensive periodic basic service offering exists, it is not possible to provide such a periodic service offering presently because such a service offering would have to be offered at the same price or, even, at a higher price than a regular service offering.
One common add-on or premium service to regular cable service provided today by cable television service providers is that of pay-per-view service in which events are pre-authorized for viewing on a particular channel for a particular length of time. For example, a regular service subscriber will call a cable television service provider in advance of a pay-per-view program such as a rock concert and indicate they wish to receive and arrange for payment for the premium cost program.
The service provider assures payment for the premium cost program and utilizes certain additional other communications between the headend and the service providing equipment than those required for regular service authorization to permit or deny reception on the premium channel at the preprogrammed time. Most importantly, this set of communications for pay-per-view services is different from and represents a subset of those required for regular service authorization. For example, the regular service subscriber is already authorized to receive service over a large number of channels. The pay-per-view communications simply serve to permit or deny service on a particular additional channel which may be dedicated for premium cost programs at the preprogrammed time. Yet this subset of communications for pay-per-view services still achieves the objective of assuring that the regular service subscriber is provided access to the desired pay-per-view program at its scheduled hour.
In connection with such communications, the pay-per-view program is given a data code, hereinafter an event data code, specifying the premium channel the event is to be received on and a sequence number. The sequence data is a data code related to the duration of the program and how frequently event data codes are updated in memory of service denial apparatus. Consequently, the channel and sequence data, taken together, comprise a pay-per-view event code for a particular pay-per-view program in this known system. Furthermore, after the program is over, the service provider denies access to the channel or station on which the pay-per-view program appeared by means of another simple communication. The event data code may be erased from memory or, more simply, a status data bit for the event (hereinafter, an in-use bit) may be changed from an in-use indication to an not in-use indication.
System operators currently have means at their disposal to provide unbilled-for or free service on an otherwise premium channel. By way of example, all regular service subscriber may be provided with an opportunity to view a short portion of a premium program for a predetermined period of time. At a system control location, for example, at the headend, a transaction may be accomplished for loading a free preview into system controller memory. The preview transaction defines the premium channel and the time period for free service. The preview transaction assumes that the subscriber is in good standing and their subscriber disconnect switch is in its connect or closed position. A communication, then, is transmitted globally to service denial apparatus to turn off all jamming oscillators and to permit all connected subscribers to watch the otherwise unauthorized channel for the predetermined period of preview time. A purchaser of the pay-per-view event who signals his purchase of the pay-per-view event either in advance of the event or by means of so-called impulse pay-per-view data return techniques is authorized by a specifically addressed transaction to watch the channel for the entire duration (and not just a portion) of the event. However, there is no means in such systems to provide either basic service or premium services to a normally disconnected subscriber for a predetermined period of time as already described without treating the periodic service subscriber in as equally a complicated manner as is necessary to repetitively authorize a subscriber to periodic service (if known) as if they were a full-time subscriber to regular service.
Consequently, there remains a need in the art of cable television service provision generally to provide a method and associated apparatus for providing periodic subscription television services inexpensively, with a minimum of additional equipment, and with a minimum or supervision and control by the service provider.